'Valerian' Mobile and Web Games to Be Created by Spil Games

Spil Games, the Netherlands-based mobile games publisher, has been selected to create the official mobile and web game for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, director Luc Besson's upcoming sci-fi epic.

Valerian, the $180 million film from Besson's EuropaCorp, is scheduled to open stateside on July 21, and Spil Games plans to launch a strategy game tied to the film a few weeks before that.

"Spil Games impressed us with their vision and understanding of the world of Valerian," Valerian producer Virginie Besson-Silla said Wednesday in making the announcement. Added Besson, the game will use "the movie's back story to create what will be a completely immersive universe for players."

"People are talking about this film as the spiritual successor to The Fifth Element," commented Spil Games CEO Tung Nguyen-Khac. "I believe we can really intensify the audience experience around the themes and ideas within the movie. It's no longer enough to make a game that just mimics the movie. Players want to dig further into the story but the game also has to be cool and fun to play in its own right."

Spil Games reports that it has racked up 100 million mobile installs since July 2015 and that it has 120 million monthly active users across native, mobile and web gaming.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is based on the popular comic stories Valérian and Laureline created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres in 1967.